A Heart Divided

I just clicked on a YouTube video of Tom Hiddleston...you know, because he's perf.  And the advertisement before the clip was for The Killers "Direct Hits" album.

It's like Brandon Flowers knew.  He knew I was being unfaithful, and he conjured his beautiful spirit out of the internet ether to remind me where my heart truly lies.  (And before you ruin my fun and tell me all about the magic of ad placement or whatever, I just want you to know that this is the first Killers ad I have ever seen in all of my rather extensive YouTube-ing.)

Also, I'm pretty sure my ovaries are on fire and my uterus just exploded from all of that unexpected and frankly, inhuman hotness.  Might need to follow up with my physician...but yeah, pretty sure.

How adorable was Brandon Flowers this week?

I'm glad you asked...

Here he is being adorable on some sort of mass transit.

***

This is him being an adorable groupie, talking about the new Morrissey Autobiography given to him by an interviewer (it's currently only available in the UK...come on Penguin!) :

“It's gotta be pretty good, huh?” he says distractedly as he paws through Morrissey's Autobiography. “So it's from his mouth… must have been working on it for a long time… shit,” says the 32-year-old with something like awe. “It's big. Damn. It's cool… Trying to see if there's any pictures I've never seen… His mom was pretty…”

I knew he was a fan, I just didn't know he was such a teenage girl about it.  He talks about Morrissey the way I talk about him. "Trying to see if there's any pictures I've never seen."  I've never felt closer to him.

***

Brando. Adorable. At the Maida Vale BBC studios.

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B-Flow being adorable with Ronnie during the Zane Lowe BBC Radio 1 interview:

Ronnie: says something mean to Zane.

Zane: Come on now, there's no need...come on, Beardy.

Brandon: *out-of-control giggling*  BEARDY!  *more giggling*

***

Here he is being adora-...actually, no.  This isn't adorable. This is him being ridiculously, super hot. Like, criminally hot. Someone arrest him. Now.

And while we're at it...here is his ass being super hot.  Can I get an APB on that ass?

***

Ok, let's be serious for a second, while this post, and most everything I say about Brandon Flowers (and The Killers) centers on how adorable/attractive/super hot he is (they are), I would like to clarify that though he is (they are) super hot, it really is about the songs and the music and the band. Honest. Their hotness level is just a seriously, awesome bonus.

As proof, I offer these photos:

I was a fan in the very beginning...when he looked like this. Ugh.

Not a super fan, mind you, just a normal-person fan. I had a copy of Hot Fuss. Actually, it was a burned copy courtesy of my brother. I still have that burned cd....though I did finally buy a legit copy this year. B-Flow's wearing more makeup in that second photo than all the make-up I have ever worn in my entire life. See, it really isn't just about his super-hotness.

***

Ok, last adorable thing, and then I'm done: 

I remember hearing Read My Mind for the first time on the radio in 2007, back in Tucson. It was late on a week night, and my friend and I were driving home from a run around Reid Park. When the song was over, I told her we were stopping at Zia Records (this totally awesome record store that was always open until midnight). I needed that song, and I needed it immediately. It's the song that made them my favorite band. It's still my favorite Killers song, and will probably always be for that reason. Here is what Brandon Flowers said about it this week while reviewing their upcoming best of record:

"I love Read My Mind...When we play it live, you can tell it means a lot to people, and that's definitely one of the songs that attracts people to the band."

It's like he can...read my mind! BAHAHAHAHHAAAAAHA!

Anyway, here's a link to the new acoustic version of Read My Mind.  I don't know how to embed it in the blog, but please, go listen. It's beautiful. On the other hand, if you don't want the Titanic-sized obsession I have, maybe you should avoid it. But, if you have a slightly less addictive personality- it is REALLY nice.

***

OH WAIT! One more thing. Seriously, this is it.
Here he is being adorable and only slightly freaked out by fans asking him for hugs...

I'm really glad I just shook his hand and didn't try to hug him. 

Good decision making on my part. Wise choice. 

Yeah, totally happy I didn't ask for a hug...

NO I'M NOT!!!!!! WHY DIDN'T I ASK FOR A HUG?!? 

He clearly gives them freely!

Biggest mistake of my life.

Alright, new life goal: hug that adorable mother f*cker.

I don't care how much it freaks him out.

I don't.

Post Concert Depression

Everything is the worst. Nothing will ever be awesome again. Not even Halloween, my favorite holiday, can make me feel better. Seattle sucks. I want to be in Las Vegas! I need Las Vegas! I am Las Vegas! Ok...that may be overdoing it a bit. But just a little.

Let me clarify: I want to relive this last weekend forever. Forever.

This is what I want my life to be: constantly listening to awesome bands, and eating awesome food, and hanging out with awesome friends, and soaking up awesome sun underneath awesomely enormous, desert skies. The neon buzz, as background to all of it.

Oh, and I would like to relive meeting Brandon Flowers over and over and over and over and over again.

But I can't.

I'm back home in Seattle.With nothing to look forward to. It's turning to winter and rain and grey. I don't get to listen to live bands everyday. There's not nearly enough neon (that element really is poorly represented in the Emerald City). The Killers are going on hiatus for 3 years. And there is a serious shortage of Brandon Flowers here.

See?!?!!! Everything sucks.

But I console myself with a new found appreciation of Beck, and a rapidly increasing love of Vampire Weekend. These bands! This music! They break my heart and ruin my life. And I keep falling for it.

But what can I do? They make me feel better. But just a little.

Battleborn...No, not THAT Battle Born

I know, you think I read this book because of its title.  Well, I'll have you know that I read this book before I had my Killers breakdown.  And I bought this book way back, last fall, when The Killers were just my favorite band (and not my only reason for living). And further, I was only slightly tempted by the fact that both the new Killers album, and the book had the same title...I was all the way tempted by the cover of the book. It's SOOOOOOO pretty!

If you were one of my former Goodreads friends, you may have read this review already.  Well, here's a spruced up version I wrote for my monthly staff pick at the store in an attempt to actually sell the damn thing. I agonized over this review the first time...and I agonized over it again the second time. Anyways, here it is.

***

Battleborn by Claire Vaye Watkins

Okay, halfway through this review, you're gonna ask yourself, "Why is she even recommending this book?"  Just hear me out, okay?

Another reviewer somewhere said, "Watkins shows promise." I think that's a great way to describe this debut collection. I liked many of these stories, absolutely LOVED one or two (and I mean loved with every fiber of my being-LOVED), and was frustrated by the rest.

Sometimes I really trusted Watkins, was drawn in by her obvious need to find hope in the hopeless. But then her genuineness would slip away to reveal a different author, a less confident author, an author working too hard at being provocative. Sure, sex and violence and drugs and prostitution and infidelity are "edgy"; or to use that horribly overused and demeaning adjective (but only actually used to describe a female author when she dares enter the "realm" of "male" writers)..."gritty" (please note all " " in that last sentence are meant to be read as enthusiastically, sarcastic air quotes...and sorry for all the parenthesis). But a story doesn't become provocative simply by their inclusion and in truth, she's at her most provocative and genuine, when her subjects aren't so "edgy". Not surprisingly, Watkins really shines when she isn't working so hard.  Most of the time I just wanted her to get out of her own way, because she does have such...you know, promise.  So try Graceland and The Diggings for some phenomenal writing.

However, what she does do well, she does really well. Her characters are flawed and unlikable in just the right ways, her subjects unique, and sometimes her words simply soar. But what she does best is write about the desert. For as much as a story would be pissing me off, it would be dragging me in with the smell of creosote; the shimmer of heat waves; and that great, big, western sky stretching on for miles. The desert does something to a person, burrows in deep and never leaves. And to be able to capture that and the raw ache and emptiness of missing the desert when not there; that, I find truly remarkable. Watkins is a child of the desert and she writes it well.

I read these stories compulsively, and they are really very good...and if the first part of this review doesn't indicate that it's because I think they could be so much better, I think she could be really great. I DO think she's phenomenal, and she certainly knows her way around a sentence, AND this is the best new book I've read all year. UGH! What this terribly muddled review is trying to tell you is to read this book; it might make you crazy, it will make you cry, and you may just slam it shut from time to time. But you're gonna be compelled to open it back up, again and again. You won't be able to stay away. People, this is your chance to get in on the ground floor of something big...Claire Vaye Watkins is gonna be huge.

***

And now, won't you please enjoy the song Battle Born, off the album Battle Born, while you read my review of the completely unrelated book, Battleborn. Bonus: if you watch the whole video (and you really should) or if you fast forward to 8:44, you'll see the moment that Brandon Flowers and I brush hands...and the world was never the same again.

If You Like Boat Shoes...You'll LOVE The Killers

I've been trying to explain to people how awesome The Killers are. Mostly because they are awesome, and no one should be deprived of their awesomeness, but also because it'd be nice to have someone actually interested in what I have to say about them. So far it's an uphill battle.

The other day, my attempts were focused on Carrie, who likes boat shoes. And I told her about this interview a long time ago with Brandon Flowers wearing boat shoes, basically trying to convince her that he is the reason boat shoes are so hot right now; and therefore, she should love The Killers. Sound logic, I know.

A few days later, I sent her a picture of Brandon Flowers and the aforementioned boat shoes. Here's how it goes...

Autocomplete- convenient, in that you don't have to type all the letters; and yet inconvenient, in that it shows you just how crazy you have actually gone.

And now, back to studying (Yes, I'm still blaming this mostly on the Bar Exam...mostly), but before I go...Baby Bflow and his boat shoes...

Congrats, Bflow. You did it, and it only took a decade or so.

Hey! Look at what I learned to do!

Clarification: I learned to embed GIFs not make GIFs.

Which means you get to enjoy my favorite thing on the internet...
Courtesy of this person.

I could watch this all day. Forever.
Please don't ask me how studying is going.

Bus Readers, K edition

This afternoon's bus ride home was brought to you by the letter K.

• One fellow was reading a book about mountain climbing, the chapter he was reading: K2
• Another gentleman was reading a Phillip K. Dick novel
• The woman next to me was reading her Kindle (lame, I judged her)
• and I was reading my new NME magazine cover story on The Killers

I obviously had the best reading material. At the very least, mine was the most beautiful.

Here's a funny story about the letter K. A few months back, when I was trying to be a little less crazy about The Killers (instead of my current and more comfortable state as full-on Killers historian...stalker) I was hanging out with Carrie, and determined not to bring up the subject of the world's greatest band.  Here's how the conversation went:

C: What'd you do today?

E: I returned some books to the library...I lied, I was returning cds.

C: I love that you lie about it and then tell the truth in the same sentence.

E: Well, returning books sounds more intellectual than returning cds.

C: Were they Killers cds?

E: No.

C: ...

E: THEY WEREN'T!

C: Were they cds of bands that Brandon Flowers likes?

E: ...

C: Those are Killers cds!

E: No, they aren't and besides...(enter some long-ass story about The Killers' musical influences here)...Man! I wasn't going to talk about them tonight! It's your fault.  How did you do that?

C: Me?!? All I have to mention is their name and you've got a new story about their favorite foods, or what happened at some recent show, or what Brandon Flowers said in an interview...hell, all I have to do is say the letter K.

She's right. It's a powerful letter.

Colbert-ifications

I haven't been around for a year or so...a couple of things.

I still love Stephen. I know a lot of you were worried that in the haze of my seemingly-sudden-onset, ever-increasing, restraining order-inducing feelings for The Killers... that I had forgotten about Stephen.

Never.

Whether or not there will be tickets to The Report for my August trip to the Big Apple is a constant source of anxiety and worry. I will forever love him. Always.

And how annoying was John Mellencamp on Thursday's episode? Why do people think they can go on the show and upstage my Stephen. They can't. No one can. Unless you are among the small population of inherently awesome, or Stephen was in love with you as a child (Dolly Parton), trying to upstage him just makes you look sad and irrelevant. But perhaps that is an accurate description of John Mellencamp at this point. Also, in the same episode, how adorable was Stephen King?!?? So adorable!... and that takes some saying on my part. (if you click that last link, please understand that there is nothing in this world I regret more than defending Stephenie Meyer)

Just wanted to clarify some things. Mainly, I still love Stephen Colbert. Here's a little clip of why that will forever be true.
WHAT UP, SOUP?!!!?!?!? Pure genius.

Here's another clip.

Shit. Well, did you really think I would could post something without them? Did you?

Yup...It's a Killers Blog

This is adorable for so many reasons.  Mostly Ronnie's slight confusion, and Brando's perfect timing.

I Want 10 Million of His Babies